Material Evidence with Religious Connotations from Ephesus in the Early and Middle Byzantine Period

The material evidence from the Early and Middle Byzantine periods includes a wide range of diverse objects comprising not only jewellery and dress accessories, but also objects and implements as well as everyday equipment of all kinds, some of them with Christian iconography. Various sites in Ephesus during the times in question have already been well researched and published, while others are still work in progress: the sites include representative housing (residences), private housing (middle-class housing, simple housing associated with workshops), taverns and shops, and sacred and sepulchral environments (church and cemetery). The movable inventory and small finds deriving from these buildings and sites – such as jewellery, crosses with diverse iconography, parts of lighting and door knockers with cross decorations, etc. – are offering a good overview of objects of everyday life in the Byzantine period. Artefacts are an essential part in material culture studies, as they provide us with data on material, production processes and intended uses, but also on activities, interpersonal actions as well as non-material functions, and therefore are important for recognising social realities. Since many of the small finds are from stratified contexts, they offer the opportunity to answer questions about settlement history and the society during the Early and Middle Byzantine times. How and why the objects were used, what qualities and values were attached to them, and which changes have taken place over the centuries are important topics in this context. The rich material evidence, especially due to the latest excavations in the so-called City Quarter south of the Church of Mary and the taverns and shops at Domitian's Square, together with the knowledge from previously completed investigations for example at the Bishops Palace, provides us with a unique insight into the material culture of the Early and Middle Byzantine world.